Vote For the Worst site shutting down. MJsBB to follow?

[Miguel]

Vote for the Worst Will be Shutting
Down After American Idol Season 12

I have some bittersweet news to share:

American Idol season 12 will be the final season of Vote for the Worst. I will be shutting down the website as of June 2013. It’s been a fun ride for the last 9 seasons of American Idol and various other terrible reality shows, and I want to thank everyone for their support throughout the years.

http://www.votefortheworst.com/

This news was discussed in the comment section of a post a MJ's. Someone said an insider told them their traffic was 20% of what it was at a peak.

That drew this response from MJ:

mjsbigblog Moderator 1 hour ago in reply to mouse999

LOL. You don't need an "insider" to figure out a websites traffic. I can point you to a few very PUBLIC sites that monitor traffic if you are interested.

Of course VFTW website traffic is down. So is mine. I'll bet AmericanIdol.com's website traffic is way down as well.The show isn't relevant in the way it used to be, therefore, traffic is down EVERYWHERE.

Rickey keeps his traffic up with SEO bait like nakeds and trashy gossip. lol.

ETA: Unless I retool the blog successfully in the coming months, I could be gone at the end of the year too. I'm not kidding either.

The mjsbigblog.com domain name expires on July 19, 2013.

[Outcast]

I wonder how much longer IDF will last. I noticed a significant decrease in traffic last year compared to 2011.

[Tusk]

I haven't been really paying attention to these types of shows until AI S10, but I was wondering if the way of the WGWG's and the deficiencies in the voting process (power voters/Southern voting blocks...for example, XF's Tate Stevens leading the entire season), and last year's XF's revealing the leader board (and showing that No one but Tate Stevens and Carly had a chance of winning weeks before the finale) has taken the passive fan out of the mix.

Why pay attention and root for your favorites every week if they never had a chance to begin with....?

Not to mention, doesn't it seem like the sob story is highlighted and apparently one of the main reasons that some 'talent' makes it farther than they should? It's hard to make it through an entire show's season when you have to be reminded how bad someone has it over and over again, week after week. At times, it feels like contestants are 'reaching' to come up with some kind of sob story.....

Ironic that there are more of these types of show, yet the sites and media that cover these sorts of things are seeing less and less interest/traffic. Maybe, it's simpy that, that we have reached a point of saturation or with new competition between shows, they have to come up with things that draw short term attention to them and not the talent. So each show is known for it's gimick and not for the talent it 'discovers'.

Also, the shows other than Idol (for the most part), not supporting their finalists after the show is over. If you are invested in someone over the season, what a disappointment not to ever hear from them after their season is over? Possibly the one thing that keeps AI ahead of the others, besides longevity, is that it does more to try to help their alumni than either the Voice or XF...or AGT.

Lyndsey Parker tweeted this article which says as much about the support alumni get from their shows possibly impacting the show's success, comparing the support of recent winners of the shows.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic...stars.html

Performing more relevant, current music on their shows would help invigorate ratings too....they really ought to look at getting new songs for the contestants to sing, so they can show their relevancy to the music industry and taste of today.

[Miguel]

Those are all good points. Another is that the Idol audience today is older on average. Twelve years is a long time. Particularly for those who were once young viewers. Potential young viewers today have more media options.

[Tom22]

Great stuff Tusk.. .. I thought I wrote it for a second ... : )

A couple people even here seemed to like the x factor though and that seemed to have all the same old big ballad songs and sob factor thing... .. it did have a weensy bit more current music for a few episodes before they decided that rap wasn't such a good thing to allow rappers to do after all.

I've found myself listening to 5 or 6 songs of both Cassady Pope and Melanie Martinez from the voice the last few weeks.. I walk my dog a few times a day so I listen to music then and they're who I have been picking over all my classic rock and over listen up for the 675th time (need a break now and then). They covered songs that while not exactly new, were new to me, and they reinterpretted the songs enough, even if I would have recognized them more, that they feel fresh to me. No..haven't listened to the hippy singing the soul/Motown classics .. maybe I don't want a guy singing to me after-all or maybe it's just I'm tired of the songs.. probably a lot of the second on top of the first.

I know one thing. There is no way i could have watched idol the past few years (even haley's season.. but less so because i liked all the kids that year as people) without my DVR and fast forward (and also reverse.. i like to hear the good parts a few times) button. Listenting to the judges was like nails to a chalkboard.

Miguel.. interesting point .. I don't think my kids browse anything like a traditional blog with discussion thing. There are comments in you-tube etc but un-threaded and just bit lines to be forgotten. Words are too much work for them to read and that much text is boring for them (and my kids are A students in difficult courses -- i've seen their work and they can write quite a bit better than I did at their age.. they just don't want to).

Blogs really aren't as phone friendly and that's most of their web experience

[buzzenator]

^ All good points...and let's not forget the fickle factor. The vast majority of viewers have a 'season' attention span, what is cool today is out of fashion within X years...2-5 years at most? TV and Hollywood find a successful formula and then they inevitably beat it to death. We have reached that saturation point on reality singing contests.

I have been reflecting on what caused me to be Hooked on Haley. I never got invested that much into any particular Idol contestant that caused me to follow them after the show. Had favorites and loved to predict the outcome, but it was all just entertainment and when the season was over I was not invested anymore.

Season 10 was so different and for a number of reasons. We could all collectively come up with a list of 100 things that make Haley the One we chose. Add in the change in judges, the drama of piling on the criticism of Haley, the comeback factor...but in the end, what makes Haley so unique other than her voice is her live performance ability.

If live music is making a comeback, then Haley is positioned well in her career path. The over saturation of reality singing contests may end soon which will limit the number of new singers getting exposure on national TV. This can only help Haley's journey as she is a player for the long term. Long after VFW is forgotten and the Idol forums have vanished Haley will still be writing and performing great music. Realistically, she will outlast the musical platform that first brought her to us.

[midnightblues]

I wonder how much longer IDF will last. I noticed a significant decrease in traffic last year compared to 2011.

IDF is Gost town. Thanks miguel for this site the IDF peeps need to migrate here.